1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices and techniques for protecting one from the accidental pricking of oneself with the expended needle of a hypodermic syringe resulting in exposure to blood carrying viruses and diseases, such as AIDS and the hepatitis viruses, and more specifically, to a hypodermic syringe, having incorporated therein an automatically retracting needle, which is safely housed within the body of the syringe after retraction, and to a method and apparatus for controlling the speed of retraction of an automatically retracting needle, as well as a method and syringe design for capturing any body fluids adhering to the surface of the needle upon retraction of the needle from a patient. Contaminated needles carry a host of infectious agents on the surface of the needle, as well as in the hollow-bore of the needle. Accidental needle sticks to health-care workers, prison personnel and emergency workers, such as paramedics and firefighters occur to more than a million health-care workers every year, and for many it is a death sentence.
2. Description of Prior Art
A number of techniques have been employed in the medical field to help reduce the inadvertent exposure to hypodermically derived body fluids from a patient, to include a range of efforts extending from that of manually providing a sheath to cover the needle after use, breaking the needle from the syringe housing and disposing of it, to that of retracting the needle assembly of the hypodermic syringe into the body of the syringe, but in each instance, except that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,869, having the same inventorship as the instant application, there has been no truly automatically retractable needle that could be effectively manufactured and employed to meet the needs of the industry.